They are always updated with the latest company news and can find information much more quickly than any marketing agency you might outsource from.

But it doesn’t mean that companies who already have in-house teams don’t need to outsource. A fundamental question that many businesses are now having to address is whether their digital marketing strategy, planning and execution should be delivered in house, outsourced completely or the solution found somewhere in the middle of the two.

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It’s a very difficult question to answer as it very much depends on internal resource available, inhouse skills & knowledge level etc. It also depends on the nature of the business, the sector and the growth objectives.

For some companies the web will be integral to who they are, what they do and how they reach their customers. For others, the web may simply be a supportive tool or one of many routes to their market.

In reality, due to the changing nature of online marketing, it’s very likely that businesses that want to reach customers via the web will need to become more hands on with their online marketing activities.

This is due to the fact that effective online marketing now requires lots of off-site interaction involving expressing knowledge and expertise and placing content in other places on the web such as forums, blogs, social sites and so on.

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This means these ongoing activities become very difficult to outsource and so the case for in-house delivery become stronger. The strategic and planning side of digital marketing however is something that most businesses will need external help with.

Whether you have your own insider team or you are just starting to invest in marketing here are practical reasons you should find extra help with your digital marketing activities.

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Whichever you prefer, it’s really not a bad idea but in this post, I will be sharing with you some viable reasons why outsourcing for digital marketing activities is more reliable and effective for your business or company.

Cost implication of digital marketing activities

Just imagine you have to employ someone for your social media marketing and another person to write content, then someone for SEO which will probably not be all. Compare that to just hiring the services of a genuine digital marketing agency?

Oh! Yes. You will definitely spend more having to pay each one for their job description compared to hiring a firm to cover all your digital marketing activities.

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Using a digital agency will give you the benefit of access to a whole team, with dedicated project managers for specific elements, who can keep you updated at all times, and send you regular reports. This can save you costs compared to taking on a full-time digital expert in-house.

Additionally, HR costs are reduced since staff are outsourced. As well as this, they’ll always be looking to deliver a consistently high level of service in order to continue working with you – this is why we choose at Iconic to work on a rolling 3-monthly basis – it keeps us on our toes and ensures that our customers are always satisfied!

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Not only do you get access to a team of people who are experts in their field, but even with that entire team working for you, outsourcing is often less expensive than hiring your own employees – when you take into account salary as well as the hidden costs of an employee, like payroll, tax, admin, training, etc.

You only pay a marketing agency for the time they spend on your project. In-house resource is rarely utilised at 100% capacity – no one can work that efficiently all the time.

Whereas an agency only charges you for the time spent working, so while they may not be spending 100% of their time on you, you’re only paying for work done (some agencies also charge by campaign, but ultimately you’re paying for results).

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It’s true that you have to pay for outsourcing. However, you often save more than you invest by reducing your expenses for staff (including space, salary, recruitment, and training), specialized software, and other overhead costs.

Additionally, you’ll benefit from the fixed costs of outsourcing. With most third-party providers, you’ll have a predictable, recurring expense that simplifies your budgeting and helps to guard against unexpected outlays of money and resources.

Time saving

It can be time consuming especially when it comes to creating digital marketing strategies and implementing them. When you have other commitments, then you will understand that it is really going to be hard and tedious on you.

But with outsourcing for the services of a professional digital marketing agency, you can’t get it wrong. When you allow a specialist digital marketing agency to manage your digital marketing strategy, you free up in-house resources and relieve the pressure on your in-house staff.

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Your team can then focus on their core strengths, whilst all digital areas of marketing are taken care of by experts. At the same time, you can deliver relevant content and updates to your digital audience by working together with a digital agency.

You will also benefit from the extra research and expertise about followers engagement and generating visitors to your website.

If you don’t currently have internal marketing resources, outsourcing saves you the time of finding and training a new employee. On top of that, outsourced marketing avoids the learning curve when employees need to execute something new.

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Experienced teams with expertise across a range of marketing disciplines get your marketing budget working sooner.
If you think that outsourcing might be the right approach for you, get in touch for a chat – no hard sell, we’ll just let you know what we think we could offer you.

Outsourcing digital marketing agencies provides an expertise touch

Outsourcing gives you access to experts. When you work with a marketing agency, you have access to expertise across a range of marketing areas. You’ll work with a team, so you get a broader range of experience and expertise than you’d ever get from one individual.

You also get the benefit of better, more unbiased insight to help your marketing. You’re obviously heavily involved in your industry but we see your business from the outside, so we can see the types of questions your customers may have, and work to fill content gaps you may not have even known were there.

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Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: when you outsource your marketing efforts, you are gaining the immediate benefit of an agency’s knowledge. A great agency is not only up to date with marketing technologies and how they can help you reach your goals, they also have experience in doing just that for other clients.

There are many, many subcategories of digital marketing that could be considered specializations (PPC, SEO, and social media, just to scratch the surface), but the best agencies can identify where you should spend your money to have the greatest positive effect on your bottom line.

Think of it this way: a well-known auto manufacturer wouldn’t spend money on a local access television commercial. By outsourcing your marketing, you are putting it in the hands of people who know where your greatest audience is, and how to tap into and grow that base.

If an agency has worked with other companies in your field, so much the better, because they have experience in driving the kinds of results that you want to see. In general, digital marketers are all about identifying key opportunities to increase your lead funnel and acting on those opportunities, guaranteeing a return on investment.

Allowing professional digital marketers to take control of your digital strategy will allow you to gain expert knowledge. They can deliver a bespoke strategy to increase your lead generation, brand awareness and market engagement.

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Their experience of different marketing campaigns will give them the best knowledge about how to approach your campaigns to deliver the highest volume of high quality leads, and great ROI.

Utilising the services of a digital agency will give you a different perspective. They will look at your digital marketing from the viewpoint of your customers and prospects to tailor your approach to encourage more visitors to your site and help you to establish a strong brand image online.

Their knowledge of how to get prospects to become customers will be invaluable, and will offer an insight into which elements of your products and services will be the most interesting and will generate high levels of engagement.

Most small businesses use one or two marketing tools at most – it’s rarely financially viable to invest in many different pieces of software when marketing isn’t your primary function.

An outsourced agency has already made that investment – for example, just a few of the tools we have include:
• ahrefs – a comprehensive research tool including backlinks, SEO, website health, and competitor research
• VWO – Conversion Rate Optimsation tool for testing websites and analysing changes
• UXPin – wireframing tool that helps with UX and design
• Pro versions of the tools many small businesses use free, giving us access to better features

If you add up the cost of each of these resources, you’d pay more for them than for the whole package with an outsourced team while still needing to employ someone to run them.

Reduce stress and increase productivity

Entrepreneurs and small businesses often don’t have the resources to dedicate to full-time, in-house marketing. This leads to the burden of marketing falling on you as the business owner, or employees who are working on other tasks alongside marketing initiatives.

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Things can get stressful—particularly when some of your online marketing campaigns are ineffective. Working with a third-party provider for your Internet marketing can dramatically reduce the strain of marketing for you and your staff.

When you’re free to concentrate on your core business, everyone will be happier and more productive. With the digital aspects of your marketing taken care of, you can allocate resources in-house and create a more productive working environment.

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The success of your campaigns falls on your outsourced partner to deliver results, which decreases the pressure on your marketing team. The digital agency is incentivised by the desire to continue working for you, meaning that they will constantly work to produce measurable results and ROI.

Facilitate rapid growth

When your company is expanding rapidly, your growth can be slowed or even halted if you have to launch a lengthy recruitment campaign to bring in enough staff to handle the increased business.

You may also end up rushing the hiring process and hiring the wrong people—which can set you back even further.

You can also use outsourcing to provide additional hands for new product launches, service upgrades, or other one-time events that require a temporary boost in marketing reach.

A digital marketing agencies have fully equipped team

To kick start your digital marketing plan you’ll need to start with a website design or re-design. To ensure your users can use it, you will need a developer to take care of the functionality.

You will need someone (or a few people) to develop content, then distribute it on social media, optimize them for search engines, manage your contacts and send out regular email newsletters.

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Overall, here’s the average team you can get by working with a digital marketing agency:
• Developer
• Web & graphic designer
• Marketer
• Copywriter/ content writer
• SEO expert
• Advertising expert (which can be your marketer)

Conclusion

For many small businesses today, outsourcing your Internet marketing tasks simply makes sense. Deciding to outsource your marketing activities is a big decision, and often a scary one to make if you don’t have all of the facts.

Give us a call today for an in depth discussion about what a digital marketing agency can really achieve for your business.

A business can live or die on the strength of its online marketing, although for smaller companies, this might not be a priority in terms of dedicating staff or apportioning scarce resources. However, this is a function that is perfect for outsourcing to an agency.

What can an outside digital agency bring to the table compared to employing a team in-house? Effective digital marketing is a vital part of a modern business’ strategy, and it’s important to employ the highest level of expertise possible.

Hiring an outside agency makes excellent business sense, as it frees up your company’s internal resources to focus on your unique strengths and to drive the business forward to success.

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Comments

As your company grows, and begins to look more seriously at its marketing activities, it’s only natural that you begin to wonder about outsourcing or hiring to help ease the workload, and keep your business moving forward.

Digital Marketing has come a long way in the past few years, and the industry is abundant with talented marketing professionals who make it their mission to be the best in the business.

Now more than ever it’s easy to find an experienced and affordable online marketing professional or agency who will work with you and your company to learn about your different goals and implement effective strategies on your behalf. The most common reason we hear from companies who are hesitant about outsourcing is their fear of the cost. Eventually, thanks for revealing a light on this topic.

Most organisations think its more effective to have inbound staff working through the clock to achieve all digital marketing goals but the honest truth is that outsourcing gives variety and a lot of expertise comes to play. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me.